


THAT TIME WITH THE SPORES

by spicyshimmy



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: M/M, Slash, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-13
Updated: 2012-03-13
Packaged: 2017-11-01 21:56:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/361700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spicyshimmy/pseuds/spicyshimmy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a really quick M!Shep/Kaidan piece to get out some feels. <i>‘Stay out of their reach,’ Shepard says, not even half a second before charging head-first into a brute—like what he says and what he does don’t have to make sense together.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	THAT TIME WITH THE SPORES

‘Stay out of their reach,’ Shepard says, not even half a second before charging head-first into a brute—like what he says and what he does don’t have to make sense together.

Somehow, Kaidan _still_ hasn’t outgrown the part where he shouts Shepard’s name: once, loud and raw, swallowed up by gunfire.

Like what he says doesn’t have to be heard.

At least that noise ends after a while, unlike the headaches, not _just_ from the strip lighting throbbing, the whole floor shaking every time an enemy misses—not to mention every time it doesn’t. It’s one thing to know Commander Shepard, _the_ Commander Shepard, and another thing to see him tossed in the air like a rag doll or disappearing in the fight, behind too many husks, gone for just a moment.

But it’s only a moment. It’s not this time, not before the end. Shepard’s the one left standing, wiping the slime from his face after firing a last round into a dark corner, wires spitting loose sparks. He only favors one side until he stops, shaking it out.

He doesn’t, Kaidan notices, lower his weapon. Not lately.

The place is full of gestation pods, most of them blown open, and Kaidan says, without having to shout to be heard, ‘Hey, Shepard. Remember that time with the spores…?’

‘Yeah,’ Shepard replies. ‘Who could forget?’

Only it wasn’t just _that time_ and it’s not _this time_ either. It was _the_ time, the first time: Shepard heading into the shower, leaving his standard issues still covered in refuse and splatter next to the window, under the stars; Kaidan sitting on the bed, elbows on his knees, all the noise drowned out behind a single closed door. Shepard came back out again in nothing more than a towel, freckles and scars and skin Kaidan didn’t have to imagine anymore. He walked around to the other side of the room, taking everything slow—until he stopped, shaking it out.

Shepard shrugs his shoulder into the side of his jaw, Kaidan watching, maybe too close. Maybe not close enough. It’s the same feeling he gets even when they’re naked, even when Shepard’s sleeping, even when he’s peaceful for once—when Kaidan’s the one who doesn’t wake _him_ for a change, because what they do and who they are mean they don’t have to make sense together.

‘Good times,’ Kaidan says, and means it. 

**END**


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